"Looming education cuts will shrink public access to community colleges, trigger more layoffs and could deprive Utah classrooms of crucial resources, officials told legislative appropriations subcommittees Wednesday.
Driving the point home, Salt Lake Community College announced it is pulling out of its leased Sandy location, which serves 3,500 students a semester. And officials warned that Utah's two rural community colleges face potential closure if lawmakers exact a 5 percent cut next fiscal year.'It is very likely that the Board of Regents will have to declare a financial emergency for one or more institutions, damaging our state's reputation for its commitment to education which has its own set of long-term consequences,' Commissioner of Higher Education William Sederburg wrote in letter to appropriations subcommittee members."